Living Above the Frost Line is a dwelling place for practicing poets. It is the home of poet, Nancy Simpson. Above the Frost Line we give ourselves some extra growing time. Yes, we know the hard freeze will come, but until it arrives, we shall grow and share our poems.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

One year ago, my heart slowed. I could barely walk room to room in my own home. After the resynchronization of my heart pump, one year later, I found myself out and about, wanting to walk.

This was my first walk, although if I recall correctly, I sat most of the time in a car and was driven to Lake Chatuge

and to the banks of The Hiwassee River.

The year 2011 will go down as the year I fell in love with that river - the Hiwassee River. I walked along its banks in a number of places. Some of these riverbanks, I had walked on before. Others I've only just discovered within the last few months. This is the year I connected the dots and realized that these special places where I walked were all the same waters belonging to the Hiwassee. This is the year my heart beat with new joy. Walking along the banks of the Hiwassee River, I became well again.

Walking with Jeremy.

Deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, there is a river named Hiwassee. The Hiwassee River has its headwaters on the north slope of Rocky Mountain in Towns County in Georgia. It skirts the town of Hiawassee in Georgia. The river flows northward into Clay County, North Carolina into Lake Chatuge,.

Lake Chatuge is a long-time favorite place of my entire family. We have walked there, swam there, picnicked, attended weddings there. I have gone there many nights with family members during past years to see the moon reach fullness.

Lake Chatuge is a control dam and a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. They built the damn in the early 1940s. The dam impounds this 7,000 acre lake that shores on the North Carolina - Georgia state lines.

Memory came back to me of a special boat trip in 2005 with my Simpson cousin Kathleen Larsen and her family, with my son Tim, his wife and children and with my sister Dorothy and with our dear Aunt Mozelle. On that day we navigated all of
Lake Chatuge on the N. C. side and all of the Hiwassee River to the far side of the town Hiawassee on the Georgia side.

Lake Chatuge as viewed from Ramey Mountain in Georgia.

Lake Chatuge as viewed from the top of Cherry Mountain in Hayesville, NC.

The Hiawassee River flows from Chatuge Dam, into the town of Hayesville, (where I live) across Clay County (the county where I live) and then flows into Cherokee County through the town of Murphy, NC, near the home of poet Mary Ricketson, author of I Hear The River Call My Name ( Finishing Line Press.) The Hiwassee River flows westward into Tennessee, and into the great Tennessee River a few miles west of State Highway 58 in Meigs County Tennessee.

Photo above taken on Hiwassee River at the point where it leaves Lake Chatuge at Chatuge Dam.

Photo taken of Hiwassee River as it moves toward the town of Hayesville in Clay County, NC.

The Hiwassee River has been known by various names and spellings, including Eufasee, Eufassee, Euphasee, Heia Wassea, Highwassee, and Quannessee. Some Cherokee scholars believe that the name came from the Cherokee word "Ayuhwasi", which means a meadow or savanna.

The Hiawassee River today passes through Clay County, NC, passes near downtown Hayesville at the site of the ruins of Spike Buck Mound and what remains as a “historical site” of the Indian town named Quanasee.

These photos were taken as I walked with Tim along the banks of the Hiwassee River as it flows past what
remains of the Indian Town of Quanasee (in site of present day Hayesville.)

Photos taken at the historical site of Spike Buck Mound,
in sight of present day Hayesville, NC,

Spike Buck Mound at what was once Quanasee.

Lynn planned a March Forth on March 4th program. I know she was trying to encourage me to keep walking, but the challenge for me was that I had to go someplace I had never been before. A friend told me about Mission Dam in Clay County. We went there for a walk.

The Hiwassee River as it flowed along beside the river road was a magnificent sight to see. That is

the very day I began to connect the dots. I understood that I had been walking all these months beside the same river. From that day forward, I've had to admit, I am in love with with this river - the Hiwassee River.

Our walk came to a quick end by KEEP OUT signs posted for our safety by Duke Power Company.

History Also says - The Hiwassee River and its tributaries were part of the homeland of the Cherokee in the early 18th century. A town known as "Hiwassee" (Ayuhwasi) was located near the mouth of Peachtree Creek near Murphy, NC. The Valley River contained many Cherokee towns, sometimes collectively called the "Valley Towns", from what is now Andrews, NC, near the headwaters of Valley River to its mouth at Murphy. The Cherokee town known as Great Hiawassee (Ayuhwasi Egwahi) was located in today's Polk County, Tennessee, where the Hiwassee River emerges from the mountains.

The Hiawassee River system has history in Hydrography also, being dammed by the Tennssse Valley Authority (TVA) in three locations, all three in Western North Carolina: The river is dammed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) all in western North Carolina: Chatuge Dam in Clay County, Hiwassee Dam in Cherokee County, and Apalachia Dam, in far Western North Carolina near the Tennessee State Line. Water is diverted from the stream bed at Apalachia Dam and sent through a pipeline which is tunneled through the mountains for eight miles (13 km), then gravity-fed through the Apalachia Powerhouse to generate electricity. The stretch of the river that flows between Apalachia Dam and Apalachia Powerhouse features reduced flow and is shadowed by the John Muir Trail in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest.

This photo was taken on one of my spring walks, Easter Sunday 2011 while walking at Hamilton Gardens that slopes on the hillside shore of Lake Chatuge near Hiawassee, Georgia.

Walking with Tim at Lake Chatuge on the Hayesville, NC side
at Chatuge Dam, on Mother's Day.

AMERICAN LIFE IN POETRY

Ted Kooser's popular newspaper column AMERICAN LIFE IN POETRY featured Nancy Simpson's poem "Pink Pantsuit" in his column read by millions of readers weekly. "Pink Pantsuit was chosen from poems published in Living Above the Frost Line New and Selected Poems. The poem was first published by LIGHT YEAR.

NANCY SIMPSON featured on GWARLINGO

IMAGES AND CONTENT

Do not copy any image without permission.

All Images and Content subject to copyright are copyrighted, either by the site owner or by the individual poet or the poetry press. If you like what you read and want a copy please ask. With poetry, most often, copyright reverts to the poet. Therefore, if permission can be given, we will help you to get it, when you ask.

Congratulations

Hats Off to Nancy Simpson whose poem "Leaving in the Dead of Winter" was published in The Southern Poetry Anthology Vol. VII: NORTH CAROLINA, Texas Review Press."Our Great Depression" appears in the Southern Poetry Review, with a focus on Georgia poets. “Years Later - Still the Old Dream” was published on line at FutureCycle Press #27 and also in print. “First Responder” was published in the print anthology American Society - What Poets See, (FutureCycle Press.) Simpson’s poems “Aftermath” and “Mary Cassatt” were published in the poetry magazine Solo Novo (California.) “Studying Winter” was reprinted in the world-wide anthology Sunrise from Blue Thunder for Japanese relief after the earthquake/tsunami. Her poem “The Collection” was reprinted in the anthology Collecting Life - Poets on Objects Known and Imagined, with an introduction by Bill Brown professor of American Culture at U. of Chicago.

"Pink Pantsuit" was featured in AMERICAN LIFE IN POETRY, Ted Kooser's nationwide poetry column.

THIS SITE Focuses On Southern And Appalachian Poets and Writers.

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE IS A DWELLING PLACE FOR PRACTICING POETS. IT IS THE HOME OF POET, NANCY SIMPSON. ABOVE THE FROST LINE WE GIVE OURSELVES SOME EXTRA GROWING TIME. YES, WE KNOW THE HARD FREEZE WILL COME, BUT UNTIL IT ARRIVES, WE SHALL GROW AND SHARE OUR POEMS.

Buy From the Press that Published LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE

Living Above the Frost Line Reviewed by Jaimee Hills in INDY NEWS- This book a finalist

CONGRATULATIONS

Dear Nancy,

What a fine article about you in the Asheville paper! It was such a smooth account of all the dimensions of your talents and contributions. I can imagine having it printed, blown up to poster size, and hung on my wall, adding only one of the really pretty pictures we have of you, too.

I hope this gave you even more pleasure than it has given us to read. There are so many of us that are privately clapping and cheering and saying "Hear, hear."

Keep up the good work because it sustains us all.

Love,

Ellen Andrews

WOW! I got the e-mail about your honor. Congratulations. I know you must be so excited. The news paper article was such a tribute. You have given so much to the network and to all of us as we have found our way through the writing maze.

NEW BOOK REVIEW - LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE Want to read?

A review of Living Above the Frost Line written by Rosemary Royston was also published in Prairie Schooner.

Nancy,

Congratulations for your honors by the Poetry Council of NC. That is wonderful! To me and every poet I know you are our queen! Love, Barbara Groce.

CONGRATULATIONS

I was thrilled to hear about the honors bestowed on you and your book by the NC Poetry Council. You are definitely worthy of that and more. I hope you are feeling deservedly proud. I'll hug you when I see you.

Love,

Karen Holmes

Praise for LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE, NEW AND SELECTED POEMS

“NANCY SIMPSON’S POEMS SPEAK WITH A VOICE that knows where it comes from, honoring that place and the web of relationships that exist within it. She can make the world shimmer in a single line. She can break your heart. She can sing. She does what a poet has to do, wake the reader into a fresh vision of reality.” —KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER, North Carolina Poet Laureate Emerita

“HARD-WON, SOMETIMES HARD-BITTEN, the poems of Living Above the Frost Line emerge from the page like daffodils from a snow bank: colorful, hardy and defiant. It is a privilege to be admitted into Nancy Simpson’s intense vision of the world, a pleasure to stand for a while in its light.” —FRED CHAPPELL, North Carolina Poet Laureate Emeritus

Do you want to buy a copy of LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE from Amazon.com?

WANT TO READ A BOOK REVIEW OF ECHOES Across the BLUE RIDGE, edited by Nancy Simpson?

ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE - you can buy your copy here:

ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE

The NCWN West anthology, edited by Nancy Simpson, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by writers Living In and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains, published by Winding Path Publishing, is available for purchase at only $16.00.

Poems by Nancy SimpsonJanice Townley MooreMaren O. MitchellKaren Paul Holmesand other nationally known poets who have donated their work to help in the recovery effort in Japan.This is a world wide project of Pirene's Fountain.

A POETRY SITE MANAGED BY Jayne Jaudon Ferrer

SEARCH POET OF THE MONTH

THIS IS A POETRY SITE. If you are interested in reading more poems by featured southern or Appalachian poets, do a search of "POET OF THE MONTH." In March 2010, Ruth Moose was the featured poet. Often the poet of the month is featured two or three times during their birth month. See "Search this Blog" below.

Nancy Simpson

About the Poet

Nancy Simpson's LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE, New and Selected Poems was published by Carolina Wren Press (N.C. Laureate Series, 2010.) She is the author of ACROSS WATER and NIGHT STUDENT, State Street Press, still available on WWW at Alibris and Books Again. Her poems have been published in Southern Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review and other literary magazines.
"Carolina Bluebirds" was published in THE POETS GUIDE TO THE BIRDS, Anhinga Press). "Grass" was reprinted in the 50th Anniversary Issue of Southern Poetry Review: DON'T LEAVE HUNGRY ( U.of Arkansas Press.) Seven poems were reprinted in the textbook, SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN POETRY,(McFarland.) Two poems were published in SOLO CAFE, Two more poems were published in SOLO NOVO."In the Nantahala Gorge" was published in Pisgah Review. "Studying Winter" was reprinted in Pirene's Fountain Anthology and "The Collection" in Collecting Life Anthology.
Most recently, Southern Poetry Review Edited by James Smith, published "Our Great Depression," and The Southern Poetry Anthology Vol. VII: NORTH CAROLINA,Edited by William Wright, reprinted "Leaving in the Dead of Winter."